Madeleine Stowe grew up in Eagle Rock, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. At age ten she started practicing for a career as a concert pianist and trained every day for hours. However, when her instructor died in 1976 she more or less quit playing.

She went to University of Southern California and studied cinema and journalism before taking up acting at Beverly Hills' Solaris Theater. She made a few appearances in TV and on film but her breakthrough came in 1987 with Stakeout. Other major credits include The Last of the Mohicans and Short Cuts.

When not filming she spends her time at her ranch in Texas, which she shares with her husband Brian Benben.
Madeleine Stowe is half British (father) and half-Costa Rican (mother). Pretended to be a reporter just so she could meet John Travolta before she became famous. Has a daughter, May Has a son (name and age unknown) Was extremly shy in high school Stowe and husband Brian Benben own a working cattle ranch outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#90). [1995] Replaced Faith Hill as Julie Moore in We Were Soldiers. In The Last of the Mohicans, her character is Cora Munro; in China Moon, it is "Rachel Munro". Portrayed a blind woman in Blink and in an episode of Little House on the Prairie. Stowe played two heroines from the 'Leatherstocking Tales' by James Fenimore Cooper. Cora Munro (older sister) in The Last of the Mohicans and Hetty Hutter (younger sister) in The Deerslayer. In one of her earliest film appearances, she was re-voiced by Anne Lockhart, daughter of June and grand-daughter of Gene Lockhart.